Chiang Mai was an incredible weekend getaway! We had been
looking forward to visiting this city in the north since we first started planning our time in Thailand. Chiang Mai is the 2nd city in the
adventure of Erin’s life story - her family moved here after she was born in
Bangkok. Plus it is famous for its unique culture, since it was previously the
capital of a separate kingdom called the Lanna kingdom (Lanna means Million
Rice Fields).
Our hotel in Chiang Mai
Flight to Chiang Mai
We arrived Friday night to our awesome hotel, The Raming Lodge, and immediately fell in love. We couldn’t wait to stay here for the
weekend. (Later notes for future travelers: Pros of this hotel include the
gorgeous accommodations, location, friendly staff, and awesome breakfast
buffet. However, there’s not great WiFi and it’s an open-air concept so it may
be a little noisy. We loved the design so we didn’t mind the noise, but just
wanted whoever may read this and consider staying here to know!) Our room had
gorgeous teak furniture with beds covered in embroidered silk spreads and Thai
art murals, not to mention very hot water in the shower, so we felt like we had
the Thai princess experience! The location of our hotel was great, tucked just
off a main street and within walking distance to the famous Chiang Mai Night
Bazaar. We were able to drop off our luggage in our room and walk down the
restaurant, massage parlor, and clothing shop lined-streets to this shopping
mecca. The Night Bazaar was even larger than we had expected, spanning across
both sides of the main street and had so many vendors in the open selling
everything from Thai spices to gorgeous oriental rugs. We decided to head to
the side of the night Bazaar that had an area for food vendors to grab
something to eat and scope out the shopping options. We enjoyed a great dinner
of fresh stir-fried vegetables, omelet with rice, and garlic pork. We had been
craving just plain vegetables and this really hit the spot!
We decided to sleep in a little Saturday morning and wake-up
at 8:00 AM. We really haven’t been getting much sleep since we’ve been in
Thailand since there are so many wonderful things to be awake for instead! Our
day Saturday truly could not have gone any better! We had planned to head to
Tiger Kingdom first thing, so we hopped in a red songthaew that was just sitting
waiting for passengers outside our hotel. A red songthaew is essentially a red
pick-up truck with seats, rails, and roof in the bed that passengers ride in
and is definitely the way to get around Chiang Mai! We had the red songthaew
all to ourselves for the 30 minute ride to Tiger Kingdom which is in Mae Rim,
outside of Chiang Mai. We enjoyed taking in the sights and sounds of the city
and views of the mountains that surround the city. Tiger Kingdom is set up like
a zoo with only tigers. The tigers are
divided into living habitats by their age. Once you arrive, you can select
which tigers you would like to see up close, so we decided to see the smallest
and the biggest tigers. It’s 1,040 (around $30) to see both tigers but it is
TOTALLY worth it! We opted not to pay for a photographer and had no problem
getting all the great pictures we hoped for with our own cameras and iPhones.
We started with seeing the littlest tigers first. We washed our hands, took off
our shoes, and went over the do’s and don’ts of interacting with Tigers. Then a
staff member lead us into the little tigers play area. We marveled at the
beauty of all 6 of the 4-month and 3-month-old tigers, as we sat right beside
them, gave them belly rubs and a foot massage of their back paws, watched them
take their little tigers snoozes, practice their hunting skills by playfully
wrestling one another and teeth on a wooden log. One of the tigers was
especially fond of Erin’s long blonde locks and bit her hair! It was a sweet
bite though and all was okay! We learned a lot about tigers while we were there
and wanted to share a few fun facts:
·
Tigers will lose their baby teeth at 1 and a
half years old.
·
Tigers sleep 18 hours a day intermittently –
they sleep 1 hour and then wake-up for a half hour. Must be nice!
After saying goodbye to our sweet
new small tiger friends, we walked through Tiger Kingdom looking at all the tigers
basking in the sun in their respective areas. We saw a beautiful white Siberian
tiger, 3 adorable newborn tigers, and several other tigers. Then we reached the
biggest tigers’ area and entered through a gate. The biggest tigers are the 2-year-olds,
named Nancy, Frankie, and Michael. It was surreal being so close to these regal
animals and being able to pet their furry stripes. These incredible creatures
even posed for a picture with our Auburn flag! They agree it’s great to be an
Auburn Tiger! War Eagle to that.
Before leaving Tiger Kingdom we
took a quick break for mango and pineapple popsicles and a little more tiger
watching. Travel tip: there is a great restaurant at Tiger Kingdom where you
can eat just a few feet from the Tigers. Our songthaew driver had waited for us
while we were at Tiger Kingdom and since we were already in Mae Rim, we decided
to go ahead and have him take us to the Sai Nam Phung Orchid Farm upon leaving
TK.
The Sia Nam Phung Orchid Farm
ended up just being a quick 5-minute ride in the songthaew away. It was 100
baht to enter and our entry pass was a beautiful pink orchid, which they pinned
to our shirts. It truly is difficult to describe the beauty of the orchid farm.
The glorious, fresh aroma hit us as soon as we walked up the entrance and we
enjoyed walking down rows and rows of orchids of every variety and color
growing from their individual pots, with the occasional little butterfly
gliding by. We could not stop taking pictures of this beautiful
experience! Our songthaew driver again
patiently waited for us while we toured the orchid farm and took us back to
Chiang Mai. We had him drop us off at Wat Phra Singh in the Old City area of
Chiang Mai, so that we could spend the rest of our afternoon exploring the Old
City, which is surrounded by a city wall and moat built during ancient times to
protect the city from the flooding Ping River.
Wat Phra Singh is considered to be Chiang Mai’s most important temple, as it houses the most famous bronze Buddha image in Thailand. We enjoyed walking around this complex and seeing the mixture of old and new intricate details on the main temple, ho trai (Buddhist library), bot (ordination hall), and chedi. Then we were ready for a lunch break and stopped at the cat themed café just across the street. We opted for grilled chicken spring rolls and a little caffeine with ice green tea for Megan and an iced cappuccino for Erin. Our walk through the Old City back to our hotel was fabulous. We enjoyed strolling through the winding lanes (called ‘soi’ in Thai), which reminded us of Europe. We passed many shops with gorgeous lanterns hanging and even stopped to smell the pungent jasmine that lined the gates of a few houses. This was probably the best weather day we have had yet in Thailand, perfectly sunny and a warm 81°F.
Wat Phra Singh
For dinner Saturday night, we
finally had we had some American food and went all out! We ate at Rock Me Burger, which is just outside our hotel and claims to be the best burger in
Chiang Mai. We definitely agree and think it may be one of the best burgers
we’ve ever had! We both opted for the cheeseburger and picked out our own
toppings to add. It was fun to sit at the bar on the street and watch as they
grilled the perfect patties and toppings right in front of us, and then piled
our burgers onto the soft buns, which they make fresh daily from their own
recipe. The presentation was phenomenal
too, since the burger was served on a cut out ring of a tree. The hand cut
wedge fries topped with cheddar, parmesan and bacon really helped our cheese
and potatoes cravings and the smoothly blended mango margaritas were hands down
the best margarita each of us has ever had. We definitely recommend this place
to any other American traveling in Chiang Mai who need a great American burger!
With full stomachs and happy
hearts, we were ready to take on the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar for a second night
determined to finally put our bartering skills to the test and get some awesome
gifts for some awesome and special people in our lives. The night was a big
success! Travel tip: Learn Thai phrases for bartering!!!! This absolutely makes
the Thai vendors smile and they can’t resist giving you the discount and
practically whatever price you ask for! We had so much fun asking the vendors
“Tao-rai-ka” (how much) and “Lode dai mai ka” (will you discount please?) and
using our Thai numbers to interpret and request prices. We owe our friends Tony
and Best big time for helping us learn these phrases and practice our numbers! After
a few hours, we finally took a break from looking through all the stalls of
silks, paintings, carvings, and clothing and grabbed some gelato. The nice vendor
let us sample the durian flavor, which we had both been curious to try. This
fruit is infamous in Thailand, but it is currently out of season so we hadn’t
seen any other durian food items yet. Durian is a unique Thai fruit that is renowned
for its distinct, stinky odor. The flavor of the durian ice cream was somewhat
tangy with a funny aftertaste…we aren’t quite sure how to describe it. We were
glad for the opportunity to taste-test rather than purchase, and decided to go
with coconut and coffee gelato instead.
Trying Durian!
Sunday morning we woke up excited
for our 1 Day Trek that we had booked a few weeks ago with Travel Hub Chiang Mai. (Thank you to former Auburn HSOP students
Kent Owusu and Kyle Peterson for this recommendation!). We were a little tired
though and needed some extra caffeine first, which lead to one of the most
impressive shows of the resourcefulness we have developed during our time in
Thailand! Megan went to grab her sunglasses she left in the room while Erin
went in search of iced coffee. Erin
worked with the lady at the drink bar in the hotel to find two plastic
‘take-away’ cups with lids and fill them with ice and then the lady watched in
awe as Erin poured the free hot coffee and milk from the hotel breakfast buffet
over the ice! Megan was in almost as much awe when she returned to the lobby
finding Erin with two ‘take-away’ iced coffees in hand! There is nothing Erin
McCreary can’t accomplish!
·
There are 2 types of elephants in the world:
Asian and African. Asian tend to be smaller, but they are by no means small!
·
Elephants are always hungry! They eat 250kg of
bananas, sugar cane, and bamboo shoots a day, and drink 100 liters of water.
·
Female elephants do not have tusks, while male
elephants have tusks.
·
Traveling on an elephants back used to be the
only way besides the river to make the trip through the mountains into Northern
Thailand. Elephants also used to be heavily relied on for carrying the heavy
teak logs from the mountains down to the villages to be carved into beautiful
Thai teak furniture. However with other modes of transportation and a logging
ban in place, elephants are out of a job and these elephant camps give the
elephants and their mahouts a source of income and place to stay.
After admiring these elephants a little more, we went back
to our regular motorized transportation and rode the van to the Karen Hill-Tribe
Village, where we started our trek. There are several hill-tribes currently in
Thailand and these hill-tribes are known for their rich nomadic culture, unique
garbs and accessories, and craft making. The Karen Tribe has resided in
Thailand for 50 yeas and is also called the White Karen Tribe as the women wear
only white dresses until they are married. Once married, they can wear dresses
of any color. In this tribe the dark red/black teeth of the older members from
chewing bitter nuts for many years are considered beautiful and actually make
their teeth clean and strong! We learned that the religion of hill tribe people
is typically a form of ancestor worship, but many are now Christians due to the
many Christian missionaries in the area. We both were struck by the beautiful
sentiment that our tour guide, Mr. Tea, shared when speaking of religion, “I
believe all religions teach people to be good people.” Mr. Tea also told us
that in the past, the hill-tribes lived in the mountains and grew opium.
However, due to an initiative by the monarchy of Thailand called The Royal
Project, the hill-tribes are now focusing on planting tea, rice, and corn, and
making beautiful woven handicrafts and silverworks.
We left the hill tribe village and started trekking through
the rice fields, and then Erin found 20 baht. No really, Erin found 20 baht in
a rice field! The rice fields had been harvested a few months ago, so we didn’t
get to see the current crops, but learned that rice is typically planted 2-3
times a year and the whole process take 4 months for 1 crop. Our trek then lead
us into the jungle, where we saw the large teak trees and followed a trail down
to the Maewang waterfall. This was one of the most refreshing moments of our
lives. We enjoyed sitting on a rock for almost an hour taking in the sounds of
the cascading water, sunlight pouring in through the bamboo shoots and teak
trees of the jungle, and soft mist from the waterfall spraying on us from the
breeze. Next, the trek tour took our group to lunch at a little restaurant
along the roadside, where they served rice, watermelon (not seedless of
course), a few vegetables and chicken dishes. Then we were off for bamboo
rafting on the Maewin River, which runs into the Ping River in Chiang Mai that
flows onto the Chao Phraya River, which runs through Bangkok. The bamboo rafting was an awesome experience. It was just 8 pieces of bamboo about 20 feet
long strapped together with ropes and a few other pieces of bamboo. The two of
us and cute French couple sat Indian style spaced out along the bamboo and
enjoyed the ride as our Thai raftsman, who spoke no English, guided us down the
flowing river with small rapids. Megan was even able to stand up and steer the
raft for a little bit too! This was an awesome way to experience beauty of the
jungle and we even floated past an elephant taking a bath with his mahout. We
also saw a few tourists, people eating meals and playing guitars at quaint
restaurants that lined the river, and some local kids playing in the river.
They enjoyed splashing us with water during our trip. Mr. Tea told us their
motto is “Not wet – no fun!” We didn’t get many photos since we were nervous to
have a mishap with our phones or cameras in the water, but will definitely
treasure this memory in our hearts. After
changing from our drenched clothes, the tour van took us back to our hotel in
Chiang Mai and we quickly changed and headed out for a bite to eat.
Bamboo raft
Rice field
Teak tree protected by monks
One of our favorite spots in Thailand
For dinner we went to the Anusarn Market, which is just a
block north of the Night Bazaar area and known for having more food. We got
side tracked on the way though by the street cart selling banana rotee. We are
so glad we stopped to try, as this was one of the most delicious foods we have
had during our entire time in Thailand. The Banana Rotee Man only sells rotee
(a crispy crepe-like sweet made from a ball of dough which is hand tossed into
a round shape) with banana filling and that’s all he needs - he’s got this
perfected. The thing about Thai vendors is that they do one thing, but they do
it right! The warm banana rotees, one drizzled with chocolate and the other
with honey and also sweetened condensed milk, were so wonderful we had to stop
walking and just stand on the streetside and relish the moment eating these.
Seriously.
Banana rotee
Banana rotee
At the Anusarn Market we enjoyed shopping at the various
stalls that had so many varieties of dried fruits, spices, and nuts and also a
few more unique crafts. We then picked from one of the many great looking food
stalls and shared fabulous pineapple fried rice and the crispy noodles and Khao
Soy (coconut chicken soup) which are popular dishes of Northern Thailand. Our
friend Fern recommended we try these while we were in Chiang Mai and we were
very glad we did. We then headed back to the Bazaar for a few more items we
decided we needed and ran into a few familiar faces from the night before. The
lady selling silk scarves was especially friendly and even showed us pictures
of her daughter!
Khao Soy
Pineapple fried rice
Monday morning we woke up and packed away all our new
treasures, checked out of the hotel and easily hailed a red songthaew outside
our hotel to Doi Suthep all on our own. The songthaew ride was the perfect way
to take in the fantastic weather, views of the hustle and bustle of the city
and gorgeous winding tree-lined road up the mountain. Wat Phra Doi Suthep is a
beautiful temple located halfway up Doi Suthep (mountain). According to legend,
an auspicious white elephant was let loose by a monk with a Buddha image
strapped to his back. The white elephant climbed the mountain until it could go
no further and the temple was built in the site where the elephant halted during
the mid-1300s. To reach the temple today we had to climb 210 steps of the Naga
Stairs, which are named this because of the 7-headed naga statues that form the
banister of the stairway. The views at the temple area were spectacular. We
were taken aback by a tree that was growing Jackfruit and draped with the
colored cloths which symbolize a glorious life. Two of our favorite things
combined into one spectacular sight to behold. There were also beautiful hot-pink
flowers covering the rooftops of several of the structures and several
beautiful bells with dangling gold leaves, inscribed with names and requests.
The main temple area contained an impressive golden chedi that was surrounded
by gilded parasols. We tried to take in the details that covered every inch of
these temple grounds.
Our songthaew driver had agreed to wait on us while we
visited Doi Suthep, so we easily made it back to our hotel for only 400 baht
(~$14) round trip. It only took about three hours to get to the temple, walk
around, and get back into the city as well so definitely something you can
squeeze in, like we did! We spent our last hour in Chiang Mai out in the city
walking a few blocks and stopping at a café. We enjoyed sitting at the table
outside drinking iced cappuccinos and eating the delicious mango and sticky
rice. On our walk we also came across a man selling khao tom mad and decided to
try. Khoa tom mad is a traditional Thai dessert made from sticky rice, cooked
in coconut cream, and stuffed with banana a black beans. Its covered in a
banana leaf and steamed. It was a great soft sweet coconutty snack! We’re both
really going to miss eating essentially every meal outdoors.
We're ALMOST THERE! 210 steps
We color coordinated with the Temple :)
Red Songthaew's everywhere!
Blonde Hair Tax
Jackfruit tree and glorious life ribbons. We love Thailand.
The auspicious white elephant
While we were sad to leave Chiang Mai (a favorite city for
us both), we were excited to be reunited with our friends back at school. The
trip home to Maha Sarakham went smoothly. Our hotel had a complimentary shuttle
to take us to the airport and flying NokAir was great. We would recommend this
airline to anyone flying domestically in Thailand! During our flight, we had
awesome views of the gorgeous Thai mountains and once we landed we were greeted
at the Udon Thani (pronounced TAN-ee…the H is silent in Thai!) Airport by our
friend Beauty and her wonderful family. Beauty is from Udon Thani and went home
for the weekend, so it worked out for her parents to drive us and her sister
back to Maha Sarakham. We enjoyed seeing Udon Thani and having dinner with her
family and cousins at a local restaurant. They really made us feel a part of
the family and we had a nice 3-hour ‘family road trip’ back to Mahasarakham
watching movies on the DVD player in the car. Arriving back at our dorm in Maha
Sarakham felt like we were coming home. We truly will miss this home-away-from
home when we leave on Wednesday for Bangkok, where we will spend the next week.
Outside in Chaing Mai :)
Addicted.
OUR FAVORITE THING
Landed back in Udon to be picked up by our friend Beauty and ride back to Mahasarakham
We love Chiang Mai!!
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